First of all, happy Martin Luther King day! If you enjoy people using his most famous line from his most famous speech to make all manner of tasteless jokes then you’ll have a great time. It also tends to involve white people taking him completely out of context and/or ignoring like half the things he actually said to justify their own racism, but really that’s every day at this point.
The Kings did a lot of stuff this past week, almost none of it good. Tanner Pearson is injured, Tyler Toffoli has mono (I’ve been there man, not fun), and Jonathan Quick has a beach ball-sized hole in his game. Good times. Oh, and the Kings have fallen out of a playoff spot. Yep. Let’s get this over with.
This Week in Games
(here’s all the games involving the Pacific Division from this past week. we’ll talk about the LA Kings’ games in great detail, while the rest will mostly just be scores, unless there’s something that really stood out about them. you’ll also get links to Eric’s awesome recaps which will expand on everything I’m saying in much greater detail if you missed any of them.)
Monday, January 12th
–Los Angeles Kings 2, Toronto Maple Leafs 0: Really, we’re starting things out with the only good thing to happen this past week? Great. It’s all downhill from here, folks. But at least the Kings were able to kick the Leafs while they’re down. Toronto is in the midst of a brutal stretch where they’ve lost 9 out of their last 11, with their only two wins coming over the hapless Blue Jackets and the Bruins in a shootout. At least it got Randy Carlyle fired though, and most Leaf fans still seem so overjoyed about it that they couldn’t care less that the team still isn’t winning any games. Anyway, the Kings allowed all of 19 shots to the Leafs and Martin Jones stopped every single one of them to snap a three-game losing streak. (recap) (gamethread)
Tuesday, January 13th
-St. Louis Blues 4, Edmonton Oilers 2
-Nashville Predators 5, Vancouver Canucks 1
–San Jose Sharks 3, Arizona Coyotes 2
Wednesday, January 14th
–Anaheim Ducks 4, Toronto Maple Leafs 0: Wait, the Ducks won a game by more than a goal? I don’t understand.
-New Jersey Devils 5, Los Angeles Kings 3: In a classic example of “the score looks much better than the game actually was”, the Kings fell behind 5-1 to the hapless Devils by the end of the 2nd period. They scored a couple goals in the third, including one by Justin Williams with just 58 seconds left to play, but obviously they never really had much of a shot of getting back into this game (save another miracle like what happened against Nashville, of course). So yeah, this sucked. The Devils are bad and the Kings should feel bad. (recap) (gamethread)
Thursday, January 15th
–Vancouver Canucks 4, Philadelphia Flyers 0: Not every day you see a team lose a game by 4 goals and then turn around and win their next one by 4, huh? These Canucks are a weird bunch.
-Tampa Bay Lightning 3, Edmonton Oilers 2
–Calgary Flames 4, Arizona Coyotes 1
–San Jose Sharks 3, Toronto Maple Leafs 1
Friday, January 16th
–Vancouver Canucks 3, Carolina Hurricanes 0
–Anaheim Ducks 5, New Jersey Devils 1
Saturday, January 17th
–Edmonton Oilers 3, Florida Panthers 2 (SO): Hey, a win for the Oilers! Which means the Kings won the same number of games as the Oilers did this week. How embarrassing.
-Minnesota Wild 3, Arizona Coyotes 1: Speaking of embarrassing, the 2014-15 Arizona Coyotes, everybody! They’re rapidly becoming a bye for almost everyone they face, save those aforementioned Oilers. They’re really good at beating them at least.
–Anaheim Ducks 3, Los Angeles Kings 2 (SO): Yeah, like everyone on earth didn’t know how this one was going to end. The Kings played reasonably well but went into the 3rd holding a one-goal lead, and it’s apparently against the NHL rules to beat the Ducks in a one-goal game this year, so without an insurance marker they had no chance. And indeed, the Ducks tied the game on Sami Vatanen’s tenth of the season on the power play, and once we got into the shootout obviously it was over. For those of you keeping score at home, this drops the Kings’ shootout record to 1-7, and at this point I’m more surprised that they actually managed to win one than I am that they lost yet again. Oh, also it was Rob Blake Night, and I severely underestimated how many Kings fans love Rob Blake, because a few of them were not happy with my running commentary. Oh well, can’t make everyone like you. (recap) (gamethread)
–Calgary Flames 4, San Jose Sharks 3 (OT)
Sunday, January 18th
-Winnipeg Jets 4, Arizona Coyotes 3 (SO)
This Week in Standings
(5v5 SAC% = score-adjusted Corsi percentage at even strength)
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | Points | ROW | GF | GA | Diff | Home | Away | Last Week | 5v5 SAC% |
| 1. Anaheim | 46 | 30 | 10 | 6 | 66 | 23 | 133 | 121 | +12 | 17-5-3 | 13-5-3 | 3-0-0 | 51.8% |
| 2. San Jose | 46 | 24 | 16 | 6 | 54 | 22 | 125 | 125 | E | 11-7-3 | 13-9-3 | 2-0-1 | 51.9% |
| 3. Vancouver | 43 | 25 | 15 | 3 | 53 | 23 | 121 | 109 | +12 | 11-8-1 | 14-7-2 | 2-1-0 | 50.6% |
| 4. Calgary | 45 | 24 | 18 | 3 | 51 | 21 | 131 | 118 | +13 | 11-9-2 | 13-9-1 | 2-0-0 | 44.4% |
| 5. Los Angeles | 45 | 20 | 14 | 11 | 51 | 19 | 126 | 120 | +6 | 15-6-5 | 5-8-6 | 1-1-1 | 54.9% |
| 6. Arizona | 45 | 16 | 24 | 5 | 37 | 13 | 104 | 150 | -46 | 9-12-3 | 7-12-2 | 0-3-1 | 48.8% |
| 7. Edmonton | 46 | 11 | 26 | 9 | 31 | 9 | 104 | 154 | -50 | 8-14-2 | 3-12-7 | 1-2-0 | 48.7% |
The Kings picked a hell of a week to put up the picket fence record, as every other team around them in the Pacific had great weeks. As a result, the Kings fell even further from 4th to 5th. Calgary moved up to 4th, while the Sharks leapfrogged the Canucks into 2nd (at least for now, as Vancouver does still have three games-in-hand and are only one point behind them). And the Ducks went 3-0-0 to make themselves even more uncatchable. Screw those guys.
Let’s look at the Wild Card standings now. As always, only the top 2 teams get in, and GUESS WHO THAT DOESN’T INCLUDE???
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | Points | ROW | GF | GA | Diff | Home | Away | Last Week | 5v5 SAC% |
| 1. Winnipeg (C) | 47 | 25 | 14 | 8 | 58 | 21 | 131 | 117 | +14 | 11-9-3 | 14-5-5 | 4-0-0 | 53.1% |
| 2. Calgary (P) | 45 | 24 | 18 | 3 | 51 | 21 | 131 | 118 | +13 | 11-9-2 | 13-9-1 | 2-0-0 | 44.4% |
| 3. Los Angeles (P) | 45 | 20 | 14 | 11 | 51 | 19 | 126 | 120 | +6 | 15-6-5 | 5-8-6 | 1-1-1 | 54.9% |
| 4. Dallas (C) | 45 | 21 | 17 | 7 | 49 | 19 | 143 | 148 | -5 | 11-9-5 | 10-8-2 | 3-1-0 | 50.9% |
| 5. Colorado (C) | 46 | 19 | 17 | 10 | 48 | 14 | 121 | 132 | -11 | 11-9-3 | 8-8-7 | 1-1-2 | 44.0% |
| 6. Minnesota (C) | 44 | 20 | 19 | 5 | 45 | 18 | 123 | 129 | -6 | 11-6-5 | 9-13-0 | 2-1-0 | 53.0% |
| 7. Arizona (P) | 45 | 16 | 24 | 5 | 37 | 13 | 104 | 150 | -46 | 9-12-3 | 7-12-2 | 0-3-1 | 48.8% |
| 8. Edmonton (P) | 43 | 11 | 26 | 9 | 31 | 9 | 104 | 154 | -50 | 8-14-2 | 3-12-7 | 1-2-0 | 48.7% |
Yes, the Kings are officially out of the playoffs. Fun times indeed. They are technically tied with Calgary at 51 points for the second and final Wild Card spot, but Calgary has two more ROWs than the Kings. Womp womp. Also there’s a couple of teams breathing down the necks of LA & Calgary alike- the Stars went 3-1-0 to pull within 2 points, and the putrid Avalanche are at least hanging in there after a 1-1-2 week, remaining three points behind them (albeit having played one more game). Meanwhile, Minnesota finally showed a pulse, going 2-1-0 to kind of stay sort of relevant, I guess? And just when I said Winnipeg had no hopes of catching the top 3 Central teams, they had a 4-0-0 week that pulled them into a tie with 3rd place Chicago (the Hawks have played two fewer games, though). So yes, there’s a decent chance we could be back here next week with the Hawks & Kings as your two Western Wild Card teams, which would at least be pretty funny.
This Week in #fancystats
(all stats are total attempts, not percentages. thanks to extra skater war-on-ice.)
Kings 2, Maple Leafs 0
Corsi: Kings 48-Maple Leafs 46 (overall), Kings 43-Maple Leafs 37 (5v5), Kings 2-Maple Leafs 0 (5v5 tied)
Fenwick: Kings 41-Maple Leafs 33 (overall), Kings 37-Maple Leafs 24 (5v5), Kings 2-Maple Leafs 0 (5v5 tied)
LA Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Williams (+9), McNabb (+8), Kopitar (+6). Worst: Muzzin/Lewis (tied, -7), King (-6)
TOR Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Gardiner/Robidas (tied, +4), Komarov (+3). Worst: Booth/Polak (tied, -7), Franson (-6)
Devils 5, Kings 3
Corsi: Kings 50-Devils 39 (overall), Kings 42-Devils 33 (5v5), Kings 9-Devils 9 (5v5 tied)
Fenwick: Kings 35-Devils 31 (overall), Kings 30-Devils 25 (5v5), Devils 8-Kings 4 (5v5 tied)
LA Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Muzzin (+10), Williams (+9), Schultz/Greene (tied, +6). Worst: McNabb (-4), Nolan/Doughty (tied, -2)
NJ Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Larsson/Harrold (tied, +1), Greene/Fraser/Elias/Havlat (tied, even). Worst: Zidlicky (-11), Merrill (-10), Zubrus (-7)
Ducks 3, Kings 2 (SO)
Corsi: Kings 62-Ducks 58 (overall), Ducks 48-Kings 46 (5v5), Kings 34-Ducks 28 (5v5 tied)
Fenwick: Kings 47-Ducks 46 (overall), Ducks 38-Kings 36 (5v5), Kings 25-Ducks 21 (5v5 tied)
LA Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Muzzin (+8), Doughty (+7), Clifford/Williams (tied, +4). Worst: Carter (-9), Martinez (-7), Schultz (-6)
ANA Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Beleskey/Cogliano (tied, +6), Silfverberg/Palmieri (tied, +5). Worst: Jackman (-9), Smith-Pelly/Thompson (tied, -8)
Next Week in the Pacific
(this is exactly what it sounds like: the next week’s schedule for all 7 Pacific Division teams. all times are pacific because, um, duh.)
| Team | 1/19 | 1/20 | 1/21 | 1/22 | 1/23 | 1/24 | 1/25 |
| LA | vs.CGY (7:30) | – | @SJ (7:30) | – | – | – | – |
| ANA | – | – | vs.CGY (7:00) | – | – | – | – |
| SJ | vs.NJ (7:30) | – | vs.LA (7:30) | – | – | – | – |
| VAN | @FLA (4:30) | @TB (4:30) | – | – | – | – | – |
| CGY | @LA (7:30) | – | @ANA (7:30) | – | – | – | – |
| ARI | – | @CHI (5:30) | – | – | – | – | – |
| EDM | – | @WSH (4:00) | – | – | – | – | – |
Obviously everyone has light schedules, with the All Star Break just around the corner. The Kings, Sharks, Canucks, and Flames will each play two games before the break starts Thursday, while the other three teams only have one game each. Once we’re done with the (actually sorta fun) skills competition on Saturday and the (horrendously bad holy crap do not watch this) all star game on Sunday, the league resumes play next Tuesday. The Kings, however, are mercifully off until Wednesday, giving us all a week without having to watch January Kings. That’s the good news. The bad news is, their first game back is against the Chicago freakin’ Blackhawks. Yeah. That should sure be fun.
As always, thanks for reading. The Jewelcast will return tonight at 6 pacific/9 eastern with special guest Jake Sundstrom (@jakesundstrom) of Fear the Fin, to help us preview Wednesday’s pre-ASB finale with the Sharks. Check out the front page for the link to listen live around a half-hour before showtime, and feel free to call in should you be so inclined. See you then!